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10:12 AM
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Not your grandfather’s workforce, but it’s still
his unemployment insurance system in Oregon
By JOY MARGHEIM
Let’s say you often bike to work and
your Oldsmobile stays in the garage
half the work week. On a day when
you drive, you get into an accident. Al-
though you dutifully pay insurance
every month, your claim gets denied.
“Sorry,” your insurer says, “you don’t
drive enough.”
It’s crazy, right? But that scenario is
not too different from what many laid-
off Oregon workers experience when
attempting to collect unemployment in-
surance (UI) benefits.
Oregon’s antiquated UI program of-
ten excludes part-time and temporary
workers whose employers paid into the
system on their behalf. Modernizing
Witt sponsors bill
allowing UI aid
for part-timers
SALEM — Oregon State Rep
Brad Witt is sponsoring a bill that
would allow unemployment insur-
ance benefits for part-time workers.
Witt, a union rep with United
Food and Commercial Workers Lo-
cal 555 and a former secretary-treas-
urer of the Oregon AFL-CIO, sits on
the Business and Labor Committee.
“The bill is both an economic
stimulus and a safety net issue for
those who often have to work two or
more part-time jobs,” Witt said.
“This will make an important con-
tribution towards breaking the econ-
omy’s downward spiral caused in
part by inadequate consumer spend-
ing. It is also a basic fairness issue:
Part-time employees pay into the
system just like full time employees.
Unemployment insurance is well
funded in Oregon so we can fund
this and still maintain our reserves.”
the program so that it better serves to-
day’s workforce is more urgent today,
as a severe recession leaves more Ore-
gonians without work.
UI is good for workers, businesses
and employers. The temporary wage
benefits help keep the families of laid-
off workers afloat. Local merchants are
better off when unemployed workers
continue spending on housing, gro-
ceries and other basic needs. And once
business conditions improve, it helps
employers call back the experienced
workers they need.
To be more effective, however, the
system must be updated to reflect
changes in the workforce. Established
in 1935, UI was designed when the la-
bor force mostly consisted of male
breadwinners who worked full time.
Today’s workplace looks vastly differ-
ent, with more women, part-time and
temporary workers.
Currently, laid-off part-time work-
ers can collect unemployment benefits
only if they are willing to accept full-
time work. For many, full-time work is
not an option — if they are balancing
work with caretaking responsibilities,
for example.
Part-time workers are a group that is
too big to leave out. One in four Ore-
gon workers labors part time, and those
workers’employers pay into the system
on their behalf, just as they do for full-
time workers.
UI rules also disregard up to six
months of recent earnings when figur-
ing eligibility. Therefore, Oregonians
who work intermittently or have re-
cently returned to work after a period
of unemployment or caretaking duties
may have difficulty qualifying.
These and other UI rules shrink the
pool of workers covered. Today, only
about half of unemployed Oregonians
collect UI benefits.
That’s bad news for the 46,700 Ore-
gonians who have lost their job since
February of 2008, when the downturn
began. According to the latest data from
the Oregon Employment Department,
state unemployment stands at 9 percent,
its highest level since April 1985.
Now is a good time for Oregon to
upgrade its UI system, not only be-
cause of rising unemployment but also
to take advantage of funding that may
come out of Washington, D.C. Con-
gress is considering an economic stim-
ulus measure that would offer an in-
centive for states to modernize their UI
programs. By modernizing, Oregon
would get about $91 million from the
feds, according to the National Em-
ployment Law Project.
To qualify for the federal funding,
however, Oregon would need to change
its UI eligibility criteria to allow work-
ers to count more of their recent work
experience. Twenty other states and the
District of the Columbia already have
enacted this improvement, which helps
workers who recently entered the work
force or who work intermittently to
qualify for unemployment benefits.
Most of those who would benefit are
low-wage workers.
Oregon can improve UI further. It
can eliminate barriers for part-time
workers, allow workers to get their ben-
efits immediately rather than having to
wait a week for their first check, boost
the benefits for workers who have chil-
dren to support, and permit low-wage
workers to complete a job training pro-
gram while they collect unemployment
benefits. Other states have taken those
steps, and so should Oregon.
Just as you don’t drive your grand-
father’s Oldsmobile, Oregonians
shouldn’t be stuck with their grandfa-
thers’ unemployment insurance sys-
tem. The time to bring Oregon’s UI
system to the 21st century is now.
(Editor’s Note: Joy Margheim is a
policy analyst with the Oregon Center
for Public Policy. She can be reached
at jmargheim@ocpp.org.)
AFSCME #2067
donates $20,000
to help elderly,
poor heat homes
SALEM — Members of AFSCME
Local 2067 donated $20,000 to four en-
ergy assistance agencies that help the
elderly and other low-income residents
pay their winter heating and water bills.
Donations of $5,000 each went to
Oregon HEAT, a non-profit assistance
agency; Salem Electric, Mid-
Willamette Valley Community Action,
and Salem’s water and sewer depart-
ment.
AFSCME Local 2067 represents
over 600 members at the City of Salem.
Since Dec. 1, the local also made
cash donations of $20,000 to various
branches of the Oregon Food Bank net-
work.
“We believe it’s very important for
us to be good citizens and participants
in our community,” Local 2067 Presi-
dent Jack Tucker told e-lert, an online
newsletter of Oregon AFSCME Coun-
cil 75. “City employees are real people,
too — we live in the local communities,
we pay taxes and we have a vested in-
terest in making our communities bet-
ter. As a group, we’re always looking
for ways to give back to our commu-
nity. It’s a high priority for this active
group of union members.”
Tucker works in the City of Salem’s
Public Works Department.
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as a voice of the labor movement.
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Telephone: (503) 288-3311
Editor: Michael Gutwig
Staff: Don McIntosh, Cheri Rice
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FEBRUARY 6, 2009
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